Italian is a major European language, being one of the official languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europeand one of the working languages of the Council of Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers (13% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 14 million EU citizens (3%).[1] Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland and Albania) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million.[3]

Italian is the main working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminologyand opera. Its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world.[11][12]

Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy and is based on Tuscan, which beforehand was a language spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society.[13] Its development was also influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent, by the Germanic languages of the post-Roman invaders. Unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latin's contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive.

59.83 million (2013)

19601970198019902000201080M80M60M60M40M40M20M20M00

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France63.18 million
(2005)

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Italy57.97 million
(2005)

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Spain44.11 million
(2005)